$current_screen WordPress Global Variable

For highly customized WordPress installations is can be useful to have specific instructions in usage for specific pages. These instructions could be in the form of a FAQ, a step-by-step instruction list, a helpful flash-animation, there are several options available.

For specific targeting of instructions we can use  $current_screen to detect where the user is.

$current_screen

I stumbled into the $current_screen global variable by chance, looking for something else in the WordPress source code. This little documented global variable contains information about which page specifically you are currently viewing in the WordPress administration interface.

Using this variable you can either embed the necessary code in a plugin, or as I prefer, modify the WordPress theme’s functions.php file.

Example Code

add_action('admin_notices', 'notifications');
/**
*
* notifications() - Administration Header Instructions and Notifications
*
*/
function notifications() {
global $current_screen;
if ($current_screen->id=='dashboard') ) {
echo "<div id='notice_dashboard' class='updated fade'><p>Welcome to your blog!</p></div>";
}
}

The code above shows a simple “Welcome to your blog!” if you are on the dashboard page. You can target other specific pages by changing the look-up on $current_screen->id to another value. You can use the reference table I created below.

Notice that I have added a unique css id identifier to the the <div>-tag. By doing this it I am able to style pages individually if I need to.

Another example usage could be to remind authors to make sure they have chosen a category and tagged posts before they publish.

if ($current_screen->id=='post') ) {
			echo "<div id='notice_post' class='updated fade'><p>Please remember to choose both a CATEGORY and to TAG the post before you publish!</p></div>";
}

Reference Table

I created the following reference table to help other developers who want to create super targeted instructions in their WordPress installations.

Main Menu	Submenu	$current_screen->id
Super Admin		ms-admin
	Sites	ms-sites
	Users	ms-users
	Themes	ms-themes
	Options	ms-options
	Update	ms-upgrade-network
Dashbord		dashboard
	My Sites	my-sites
	Updates	update-core
Posts		edit-post
	Add New	post
	Categories	edit-category
	Post Tags	edit-post_tag
Media
	Library	upload
	Add New	media
Links
	Links	link-manager
	Add New	link
	Link Categories	edit-link-categories
Pages
	Pages	edit-page
	Add New	page
Comments		edit-comments
Appearance
	Themes (Manage)	themes
	Themes (install)	theme-install
	Widgets	widgets
	Menus	nav-menus
	Editor	theme-editor
Plugins
	Plugins	plugins
	Add New	plugin-install
	Editor	plugin-editor
Users
	Users	users
	Add New	user
	Your Profile	profile
Tools		tools
	Import	import
	Export	export
	Network	network
Settings
	General	options-general
	Writing	options-writing
	Reading	options-reading
	Discussion	options-discussion
	Media	options-media
	Privacy	options-privacy
	Permalinks	options-permalink